Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation

History

Original run

The first series ran on Network Ten for 18 episodes. The first run generation team captains were Amanda Keller (Baby Boomers), Charlie Pickering (Generation X) and Josh Thomas (Generation Y). The original production order extended due to the success of the show.

A second series of 26 episodes began airing from 7 February 2010. Series 2 had a planned hiatus after episode 10 on 18 April 2010 and returned to finish its run on 1 August 2010.

The third series of the show began on 8 February 2011.

On 27 October 2011, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation was renewed for a fourth series. On 22 January 2012, it was announced that the show would begin airing Series 4 on 1 February 2012 in an 8 pm timeslot.

Nine Network run

In September 2017, it was announced that the show would be revived on the Nine Network for 8 episodes with Micallef returning as host. In October 2017, the series was officially confirmed for revival set to air in 2018, as well as the announcement of the series captains. Generation X was led by Robyn Butler, Generation Y was led by Andy Lee and Generation Z was led by Laurence Boxhall. It has a new set and it also changed its graphics including new logo and as well as fonts, sets and theme song and primary colours. The primary colours are red (Generation X), yellow (Generation Y) and blue (Generation Z). The show was once again filmed at Docklands Studios in Melbourne. It is recorded in front of a live audience of 500 people.

In October 2018, the series was renewed for a sixth season at Nine's upfronts with Micallef returning as host with Lee, Butler and Boxhall returning as series captains. The series premiered on 1 May 2019.

Return to 10

On 16 September 2024 at Paramount's 2025 upfronts, it was announced the series would be returning to Network 10 in 2025, with new host and new captains to be announced and simply titled "Talkin' 'Bout Your Gen". The generations will include Gen X, the Millennials and the Zoomers. In April 2025, it was announced that comedian Anne Edmonds will host the series, replacing Micallef. In May 2025, Dave Hughes, Tommy Little and Anisa Nandaula were announced as team captains for Gen X, Gen Y & Gen Z, respectively. The series premiered on 16 September 2025.

Format

Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (also known as TAYG) is an hour-long quiz show testing the popular culture knowledge of teams from three different cultural generations. Each team captain is joined by a different guest each episode who is part of their respective generations. However, on occasion there have been guests not actually part of the generation they represent on the show. (For example, Ian Smith and George Negus have featured as Baby Boomers but are actually members of the older Silent Generation.) For the original run, the guests up to 30 are placed in the Generation Y team, guests aged 30–45 in the Generation X team and guests aged 45 and over in the Baby Boomer team. During the second run, guests aged 25 and under are placed in the Generation Z team, guests aged 25–40 in the Generation Y team, and guests aged 40–55 in the Generation X team.

Typically, each episode features six rounds (five rounds in series 5 & 6)with the three teams competing in various themed games which feature wordplay-based names such as What's A Doodle Doo?, Name That Tee and ¡chronoloco!. One point is awarded for each correct answer, though in practice points can be awarded or deducted at Shaun's own discretion. The first three rounds involve the contestants buzzing in first to give their answer. Games played in these rounds can involve identifying missing television characters from a cast picture, identifying a company name from a partially constructed logo, or identifying a catchphrase and its origin from a T-shirt.

The fourth round sees teams choosing from four categories from the main display (dubbed the "magic window"), and often involves their participation on the studio floor on their part. Games include matching up celebrity pairs (such as famous mothers and daughters) on the screen, ransacking a period setting to identify anachronistic items, and performing charades. From 2018, it was used in the third round.

The fifth round, called "Your Generation" and later Yo-Gen, sees all teams quizzed in turn on themed questions relevant to their particular generation and based on a certain topic or Yo-Gen Subject. In this round, one point is awarded for each correct answer and two points are lost with each incorrect answer. In 2018, the fourth round was used. In 2019, it was part of the magic window.

The final round, called End Game, sees all teams trying to complete a physical task, usually to be judged by Shaun. The number of points awarded is random but almost certainly allows for any team to win; therefore the winner of the End Game is the winner of the episode.

Series 7 changes

Each episode features five rounds with the three teams competing. The first round is various themed games such as "Mullet Over". One point is awarded for each correct answer, though in practice points can be awarded or deducted at Anne's own discretion.

The second round sees teams choosing from four categories was now from the big screen replacing magic window. All categories were returned such as Film & TV, Music, Celebrities, Lifestyle, News & Current Affairs and Sport. New categories are including History and Technology.

The third round now seeing all teams that guessing for example "Pit Happens".

The fourth round also now seeing themed choices such as "Wiki-Oke", as it shares between a team captain and a team guest.

End Game replaced by As Quick As for the final round.

Cast

Hosts

Shaun Micallef (Host, 2009–2012, 2018–2019)

Anne Edmonds (Host, 2025–present)

Network Ten original cast

Amanda Keller (Team Captain, Baby Boomers, 2009–2012)

Charlie Pickering (Team Captain, Generation X, 2009–2012)

Josh Thomas (Team Captain, Generation Y, 2009–2012)

Nine Network iteration cast

Robyn Butler (Team Captain, Generation X, 2018–2019)

Andy Lee (Team Captain, Generation Y, 2018–2019)

Laurence Boxhall (Team Captain, Generation Z, 2018–2019)

Network 10 reboot cast

Dave Hughes (Team Captain, Gen X, 2025–present)

Tommy Little (Team Captain, Gen Y, 2025–present)

Anisa Nandaula (Team Captain, Gen Z, 2025–present)

List of games

First Network Ten iteration

These are some of the games that are featured in the show from 2009 to 2012. Not all of them are mentioned.

Accessory Before the Fact - Teams are shown an item which is famously owned by a film or television character and must identify the character to which it belongs.

Ad Hoc - Teams are shown a still image from a famous television commercial and receive a point for correctly identifying the product being advertised.

As Quick As - Teams answer a series of rapid-fire questions before a novelty timer runs out, typically the boiling of an electric kettle. Sometimes the kettle would be replaced with other timers such as a professional woodchopper.

Befuddled - Teams are shown a series of movie posters which have been mixed up by the "Befuddlo-Mesh" screen. The poster is progressively defuddled and teams get points inverse to the number of times it has been defuddled.

Better Read Than Dead - Shaun reads a series of first lines from famous books and teams must identify the book it belongs to.

Charlie Was Wrong - Teams were shown a doctored video of Charlie answering a question incorrectly from a previous series. The team to correctly answer the question was awarded 15 points. The twist was that given Charlie had previously "answered" the question, he was locked out (his teammate wad allowed to answer the question).

Chicken or Egg? (Originally called What Came First?) - Teams are shown two products, events, or businesses and must decide which one of them came first.

Chinese Internet - Teams are shown series of facts in which one of the words has been "censored by the Chinese Government". Teams write down the word on a chalkboard and get a point if they correctly identify the missing word.

Nine Network iteration

These are some of the games that are featured in the show from 2018 to 2019. Not all of them are mentioned. New games are in bold.

As Quick As

Befuddled

Chicken or Egg?

Chinese Internet

Franken-Face

Human Fly

Logo A Go Go

Merch of Time

Objectification

Pandamonium

Poli-waffle

Slogan's Run

Sounds Like History

Spoilers Ahoy

What's App, Doc?

Games featured in the Magic Window:

The Magic Window is the large screen in the background of the TAYG set. The teams pick one of four buttons from the window which are labelled with the genre of game that is featured in that button and later, things or people relating to a certain subject. New games are in bold. Who Am I Doing? and What Just Happened now appeared on the Magic Window was included.

Add & Distract

Alien Autopsy

Anachronistuck

Beat the Boomer, Baby

¡chronoloco!

Draw That...

Second Network 10 iteration

These are some of the games that are featured in the show from 2025.

Beat the Alpha

Mullet Over

Paul Slogan

Pit Happens

Silent Disco

Wiki-Oke

Games featured in the big screen

The big screen in the background of the TAYG set. The teams pick one of four buttons from the window which are labelled with the genres (Celebrities, Film & TV, History, Lifestyle, Music, Sport and Technology) of the game that is featured in that button and later, things or people relating to a certain subject.

Franken-Face

Hey Fever

Prop My Scene

Episodes

The first series began airing on 5 May 2009. It ran for 18 episodes concluding with a Christmas special on 22 November 2009. Due to the popularity of the first series, a second series was commissioned and began airing on 7 February 2010. The series aired for 10 episodes and took a three-month break before resuming on 1 August 2010. The series then ran for a further 16 episodes, totalling 26 for the second series. Also, a highlights episode, dubbed 'family assortment', was aired on 4 April 2010. A third series of the show began broadcast on 8 February 2011. Similar to the second series, the third series was split into two distinct blocks for broadcast. It concluded on 18 September 2011.

Reception

Ratings

The first series of the show, which aired at 7:30 pm Tuesday night, was very successful ratings-wise with the show considered a surprise hit. The premiere episode of the show debuted with an average of 1,648,000 viewers, coming in first for the night and fourth for the week. The subsequent episode drew in 1,599,000 viewers, coming both first for the night and the week. The highest rating episode was the eighth, which averaged 1,754,000 viewers. The 2009 Christmas special aired at a 6:30 pm Sunday night timeslot. In comparison, it drew in only 1,060,000 viewers.

The second series of the show debuted in the 7:30 pm Sunday night timeslot, with the series premiere drawing in 1,323,000 viewers. After sixteen episodes the show returned to the 7:30 pm Tuesday night slot to make way for the broadcast of Junior MasterChef Australia on Sunday nights. The ratings figures for the second season were generally behind the high figures set during the first series. The season finale, which also doubled as the 2010 Christmas special, drew in 1,450,000 viewers.

Awards

The show was nominated for both the Most Popular and Most Outstanding Light Entertainment awards at the 2010 Logie Awards. In addition, Shaun Micallef was nominated for both the Gold Logie and the Most Popular Presenter awards for his work on the show. The show won in both categories it was nominated for with Shaun Micallef winning the Logie for Most Popular Presenter alongside. He did not win the gold Logie. Team captains Josh Thomas and Charlie Pickering were also nominated for the Most Popular New Male Talent Logie.